My latest contribution to the Bilerico project is up; Gay Tithe: Assuring your donation doesn't work against you.
Back in Detroit, I grew up in the Catholic School system. I was raised a very strict Catholic, and even in school we were given collection envelopes in which we were encouraged to give 'the price of a comic book, a milk shake or a candy bar' (you can tell whoever made the envelopes grew up in the Davey Crockett raccoon hat era, it was funny to me even at 7), at our weekly Children's Mass. I've been tithing since a very early age.
I now hop around from church to church. I'm no longer Catholic--nor even really Christian, for that matter--but I still have a strong sense of spirituality and feel the need to explore that part of my life on a weekly basis. Somehow, the Catholic church was able to instill in me a love of tithing: giving feels good.
However, for many gays, its difficult to tithe in good conscience because you can't possibly know in many cases (unless you're Unitarian, Quaker or a member of a UCC church) if your tithe will be used to help feed the homeless or be used to try to force you back into the closet of submission and second-class citizenship (or worse--"Ex-Gay" therapy). You want to give to your church but you want to give for good...
CONTINUE GAY TITHE: ASSURING YOUR DONATION DOESN'T WORK AGAINST YOU!
Back in Detroit, I grew up in the Catholic School system. I was raised a very strict Catholic, and even in school we were given collection envelopes in which we were encouraged to give 'the price of a comic book, a milk shake or a candy bar' (you can tell whoever made the envelopes grew up in the Davey Crockett raccoon hat era, it was funny to me even at 7), at our weekly Children's Mass. I've been tithing since a very early age.
I now hop around from church to church. I'm no longer Catholic--nor even really Christian, for that matter--but I still have a strong sense of spirituality and feel the need to explore that part of my life on a weekly basis. Somehow, the Catholic church was able to instill in me a love of tithing: giving feels good.
However, for many gays, its difficult to tithe in good conscience because you can't possibly know in many cases (unless you're Unitarian, Quaker or a member of a UCC church) if your tithe will be used to help feed the homeless or be used to try to force you back into the closet of submission and second-class citizenship (or worse--"Ex-Gay" therapy). You want to give to your church but you want to give for good...
CONTINUE GAY TITHE: ASSURING YOUR DONATION DOESN'T WORK AGAINST YOU!
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